Sun man on MP phone theft charges

Journalist Nick Parker and a member of the public are facing charges linked to the theft of a mobile phone belonging to MP Siobhain McDonagh, pictured

Sun journalist Nick Parker and a member of the public are facing charges linked to the theft of a mobile phone belonging to MP Siobhain McDonagh.

Parker is accused of one count of receiving stolen goods and one of unauthorised access to computer material, while Michael Ankers, 29, from south west London, faces one count of theft.

Gregor McGill, a senior lawyer at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: "The CPS has today authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Nick Parker with one offence of receiving stolen goods and one offence of unauthorised access to computer material.

"We have also authorised the police to charge Michael Ankers, 29, from south west London, with theft."

Both men will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on November 6.

The full charges that Parker, 52, from Twickenham, faces allege that:

:: Between October 17 and 21, 2010 he dishonestly received stolen goods, namely a mobile phone belonging to Siobhain McDonagh;

:: Between the same dates he caused a computer to perform a function with intent to secure unauthorised access to a program or data held in a computer, knowing that such access was unauthorised.

It is alleged that Ankers stole the mobile phone on or around October 17 2010.

Mr McGill said prosecutors had decided there was insufficient evidence to charge another suspect in relation to the case.

Labour MP Ms McDonagh, who has represented Mitcham and Morden since 1997, had her mobile phone stolen from her car in Colliers Wood in south-west London on October 17 2010.

The accusations against Parker and Ankers bring the number of people charged under Operation Tuleta, a Scotland Yard investigation into claims linked to various alleged privacy breaches, to three.